So if you grow your own pumpkins, or will be getting a pumpkin in October to decorate your house with, you can use that pumpkin for much more than making your home extra beautiful (pumpkins are lovely, they brighten up everything). You can also eat them! There is delicious pumpkin puree waiting for you inside every single pumpkin wishing you would cut it open and scoop it into brownie mix. Trust me, they tell me this. My pumpkins talk to me, what they don’t talk to you?

Pumpkin puree is so easy to make! The hardest part is the emotional attachment of cutting your pumpkin in half. I always tell myself I’m going to be strong then I end up almost crying and taking goodbye pictures with it. I always always talk to my pumpkins during this process, I just want them to know it’s going to be ok when I cut them up and put them into the oven to bake then process them until it’s smooth.

So what pumpkins are the best for pumpkin puree? Some will say to only use Sugar or Pie Pumpkins due to their taste and ease with desserts. But I have found that practically any pumpkin makes good puree. I do this to our Jack-O-Lanterns that can fit into my oven and I don’t find there is a big taste difference at all. So I say try them all and see if you prefer one of the other. I will use them all!

So let’s go.. pumpkin puree party! Let’s make this! Once you have fresh pumpkin puree, you will glare at the can on the shelf at the store. Fresh pumpkin is bursting with flavor! Pumpkin puree can be frozen beautifully up to a year! So when you decide to make a pumpkin casserole in February, you just open up your freezer and you got it covered. Pumpkin puree, you are the best.

There’s one other thing I wanted to quickly say about this. Like I mentioned in this post in making applesauce, I have a Weston food strainer and it’s changing my life. For this specific post I am using the pumpkin/squash attachment. I ended up buying the whole set of attachments because I decided I needed them all in my life. If you are into making sauces, purees, baby foods, jellies, salsas, mashed potatoes, juices etc you will fall madly in love with it. Seriously. It just makes everything smoother. If you do not have a food strainer, don’t worry, I also included instructions in the recipe box on how to use your food processor/blender instead.

Pumpkins… you guys are magic. These 3 guys have been staring at me waiting for their pumpkin puree moment. Well pumpkins, it’s that time.

The first cut is always the hardest. It’ll be ok little pumpkin, I swear.When you cut up the pumpkin you will notice lots of seeds and strings. There are 2 ways to go about this:
If you are using a food strainer, don’t do anything.
If are you not using a food strainer, get a spoon and get all the strings/seeds out. Set the seeds aside for later if you are going to to make roasted pumpkin seeds (yum).

Take your pumpkins and put them face down in a pan. If you are doing multiple pumpkins, rearrange so they can fit best. You might have to use more than one pan as well.

Then fill up the pan with about 1/4 inch water.

Into the oven they go for 1 hour…

When they come out you will see they appear soft now, sometimes the pumpkins even get indented and “fall in”. Totally ok. Good job pumpkins, you made it through the hot part.

The pumpkins will be very hot, as well as the remaining water in the pan so be careful. When you flip the pumpkins over you will see the insides are very soft.

Soft pumpkin is going to make some awesome pumpkin puree.

Now let me re-introduce you to my Weston Food Strainer. The strainer is great because you can get different attachments for it, such as sauces, salsas, grapes, berries and pumpkin. This is the pumpkin attachment.

If you do not have a Food Strainer, you can make Pumpkin Puree too! With a spoon remove all the inside strings and seeds, set aside. With a spoon remove the pumpkin and put into a food processor. Turn the food processor on and pulse until you have smooth pumpkin. Then use or freeze accordingly.

For the strainer, I cut the pumpkins up into smaller pieces and then start to crank the handle for the pumpkin to go down into the strainer. What comes out one side is the most beautiful, perfect pumpkin puree. Keep cranking until you have no more pumpkins left.

What comes out the other side is the strings and seeds. The strainer does the hard work for you! This is my favorite part because one of my least favorite kitchen duties is to spoon seeds and strings out of pumpkin, it takes forever. But the strainer takes that hard work away! When all the strings, seeds come out, I will run this through the strainer about 2-3 more times just to make sure there’s no pumpkin hiding in there.

You are left with a bowl of seeds, which I sure hope you are going to roast because they are one of my favorite snacks ever!

And you will have giant bowl full of fresh pumpkin puree. I got about 5 cups out of this which is a fair amount as 2 of them were small sugar pumpkins.

The puree is super smooth. Good enough to just take a spoonful and eat right the

High 5 on making some fresh puree. The canned puree really can’t even try to compete with this freshness. And let me tell you, it makes the best pumpkin pies..

Pumpkin puree freezes beautifully up to a year. I like to put it into 8 oz bags or 15 oz bags because recipes usually always call for one of these. I also put some into a mason jar to go into the refrigerator so I can cook with it in the next few days.

Hahaha, you can raid it all you want, just good luck getting around the puzzle that I have created with all the bags and boxes and casserole containers! It’s like if I pull something out wrong, it all falls down (on my toes!). 🙂

You are too funny Pamela! I’m totally gonna take a goodbye pumpkin pic this year. This is essentially reading for the upcoming holiday season, and a welcome replacement for all that canned pumpkin nonsense.

I’m always afraid that making fresh puree will negatively affect the structure of pumpkin pies and whatnot… I really hope I’m wrong, because I’m giving it a go this fall… need to cut out the cans! Thanks for the encouragement, as usual!

After reading your blog title, it makes me think of fall already! I can’t wait for fall, that’s when Europe gets slightly cooler. And yes for pumpkins, and pumpkin pie is all I want now! Thank you for sharing your pumpkin puree recipe! I want to use it for Thanksgiving and for pumpkin pies! And your Weston Food strainer looks amazing, I’ve to check out that tool!

Where the heck did you find pumpkins in the middle of August? I am impressed. That aside, I can’t wait for all the fall related recipes up my sleeve and now with this recipe I can ignore the stupid can on the shelf.

I love your soup, yum! I have a pumpkin chile, a pumpkin mac and cheese and a pumpkin soup recipe coming in the next few weeks! I love making soups and chilis with it, it works beautifully with pumpkin!

Pamela, this is fantastic. Pumpkins are good in baked cookies and cakes. I usually process everything in the food processor, I don’t have the food strainers.
We have a pumpkin farm across the street, I mean like literally across the street from my house. You’d love it.
I love roasted pumpkin seeds, I remember those from my childhood spending summer and weekends at my grandmother’s, we’d munch on those all the time.

A pumpkin farm across the street! Oh my goodness, I would be there all the time, running around them, holding them, naming every single one (it would be alot of names to remember). I love baked goods with pumpkin, it always adds a little something special! 🙂

Pamela, these photos are unbelievable! So pretty. I was under the impression that only pie or sugar pumpkins could be used for cooking, so it’s great to know that any old pumpkin will do. I have only ever used canned pumpkin, but maybe this year I will try making my own puree with these instructions. Thanks!

[…] Health facts on pumpkin: It’s full of fiber. Half a cup has 3.5 grams of fiber. It’s loaded with Vitamin A, alpha and beta-carotenes and is a good source of vitamins C, K, and E. 1 cup of pumpkin puree supplies 3.4 grams of iron which will support a strong immune system and keep you from getting sick. Pumpkin’s orange color is a clue to its high antioxidant content. Some doctors say that the compounds in pumpkin can help prevent lung cancer, heart disease as well as Type 2 diabetes and arthritis. It will help support healthy digestion. One cup of pumpkin puree contains just 83 calories. Compare that to the oils you might use instead! Pumpkin is amazing – isn’t it? And don’t forget pumpkin puree is so easy to make! […]

I just finished making pumpkin puree according to your directions. It turned out great. I used by food processor to puree it. Cant wait to make my pumpkin pie Wednesday. I got enough to put a bag in the freezer for later and a little to eat. yum. thanks